Digital Timelines for Your Techy Students (and a Space Saver for Mom)!

Though I like the idea of timelines, my kids aren't thrilled about paper projects.  I attempted a timeline - once - with Sonlight's spiral-bound book. I thought it was a great way to keep the space requirements of a timeline under control, and I appreciated the pre-printed figures as an added convenience.  However, it just didn't take off that much with my kids.  They devour the books, but the projects, well...not so much.

Then, this past year, my daughter was required to create a timeline in a history class. The class requirement was to make three timeline cards (on index cards) each week from the reading assignments.  Then, at the end of each semester, they took the cards and put them in some sort of timeline. Since she had the flexibility to create a timeline however she wanted,  she ended up using http://www.dipity.com/ to create a digital timeline.  I have no idea how she even found the site!  She absolutely loved making a timeline this way.  I shared the link this past winter after the first semester, but below is the completed project for the year.

Watkins timeline on Dipity.

This is the timeline as hosted on Dipity, but she even took it a step further and created her own website for her timeline.

http://jordynshistorytimeline.webs.com/

If you look at the top, there are even options to change the format to a flipbook, list, or map from the entries.

The digital version is a space-saver for sure and perhaps a bit more exciting if your kids are into technology!